Nuance Acquires SVOX

BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nuance Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: NUAN) today announced that it has
acquired SVOX, a provider of voice solutions for in-car systems and
consumer electronics. The combination of Nuance and SVOX’s innovations
will advance the proliferation of voice in the automotive market, and
accelerate the development of new voice capabilities that enable
natural, conversational interactions between consumers and their
connected cars, mobile phones, and other consumer devices.

The mobile industry is experiencing increased consumer demand to not
only command and control in-car systems and devices through voice, but
also to quickly and easily access mobile Web content, find local
businesses, get directions, and create and listen to messages. Combined,
Nuance and SVOX will further empower the world’s leading car makers,
automotive suppliers, device manufacturers and third-party developers to
meet these demands head on, while customizing and differentiating their
offerings with state-of-the-art voice innovations that result in the
best mobile experience the industry has to offer.

“The automotive and consumer electronics markets are experiencing a
surge in demand for voice capabilities,” said Michael Thompson, senior
vice president and general manager, Nuance Mobile. “By combining
portfolios and expertise, we can ignite innovations that enable
seamless, natural conversations between man and machine across an
amazing portfolio of voices and languages.”

The combined organization will deliver:

Advanced Voice Solutions for New and Emerging Markets – Nuance
and SVOX’s combined technologies will advance groundbreaking voice
capabilities through robust text-to-speech and voice recognition
offerings, as well as powerful hybrid cloud-embedded voice platforms.
This resulting portfolio will enable incredibly natural and intuitive
interactions never before thought possible with connected cars, a wide
array of consumer devices and services, and the digital living room.

Strong Global Customer and Partner Relationships – The
acquisition provides Nuance’s and SVOX’s customers and partners access
to the industry’s largest and most experienced mobile voice technology
teams, delivering the broadest voice capabilities that enrich the
automotive and mobile consumer experience. SVOX’s technical expertise
and talent combined with Nuance’s global resources and market strength
will enable technology platforms that are state-of-the-art today,
while offering the assurance of technological leadership through a
robust product and services roadmap.

“Manufacturers, suppliers, developers and consumers are all driving an
unprecedented demand for fully voice-enabled experiences that require
both embedded and cloud-based technology to work hand-in-hand. By
combining our technology and talent with Nuance’s robust voice
capabilities and market strength, we’ll be better positioned to meet
that demand,” said Martin Reber, CEO, SVOX.

SVOX’s portfolio also supplements Nuance’s advanced signal enhancement
technologies, including echo cancellation and beamforming that enable
increased voice recognition accuracy in automotive, mobile and digital
home environments. Additionally, OEMs and developers will have access to
a portfolio of plug-and-play application modules that enable them to
fully voice-enable their innovations that feature the best of Nuance and
SVOX’s trusted voice recognition and text-to-speech capabilities.

About SVOX AG

SVOX, a privately held company with significant shareholdings
represented by smac partners/Germany, is a leading supplier of speech
solutions, with a reputation for quality and customer focus. SVOX drives
adoption of speech user interfaces in the automotive, mobile device and
consumer electronics industries. The company offers an application
development framework, as well as separate components including Speech
Recognition, Speech Output and complete Speech Dialog solutions. For
more information, please visit www.SVOX.com.

About Nuance Communications, Inc.

Nuance is a leading provider of voice and language solutions for
businesses and consumers around the world. Its technologies,
applications and services make the user experience more compelling by
transforming the way people interact with information and how they
create, share and use documents. Every day, millions of users and
thousands of businesses experience Nuance’s proven applications and
professional services. For more information, please visit: nuance.com.

Nuance, and the Nuance logo are trademarks or registered trademarks
of Nuance Communications, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States
of America and/or other countries. All other company names or product
names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Statements in this press release regarding the proliferation of voice
in the automotive market, increased customer demand in the mobile
market, future product offerings by the combined company, and any other
statements about Nuance managements’ future expectations, beliefs,
goals, plans or prospects constitute forward looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any
statements that are not statements of historical fact (including
statements containing the words "believes," "plans," "anticipates,"
"expects," estimates and similar expressions) should also be considered
to be forward looking statements. There are a number of important
factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially
from those indicated by such forward looking statements, including the
ability of Nuance to integrate the product offerings of the combined
companies and other the factors described in Nuance's Annual Report on
Form 10 K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010 and other filings
with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nuance disclaims any
intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a
result of developments occurring after the date of this press release.